Intex Mariner 4 modifications and Tips

[Rainbow123]

I am not that big of a guy but I also used 15/32. I figured 1/4 would be too flimsy unless you are using the full OEM floor under it. I also wanted it sturdy so that when I threw the scuba tanks in it wouldn't crack etc...

Guess I'll go with 1/2" ply. Didn't realize the OEM floor was 40 lbs!

 

[mrdrh99]

Yep... Pretty much 1/2 of the weight.... Composite is heavy!

 

[ScottishScript]

Scottish- I don't know how it's waterproofed. I had read about them a while back and your post made me think of them. Searching the web I see it's pretty popular to do and I'm sure many of those folks are fishing in the rain so there must be a particular brand or a mod to make it work...

Oh I misunderstood, I thought you had one and had figured that out.

 

[Starkonian]

Oh I misunderstood, I thought you had one and had figured that out.

I think I have some finality to the Minn Kota issue. They had someone call me who finally has a clue how the motor works. Referring to the parts diagram, part # 60 are the "magic fingers" they refer to in the manual guide which comes with the motor. It's called the Front Bearing. It sits at the front of the casing, the two casing halves closing over it. The outer handle is inserted through it and it is splined on the rear. When the handle is pulled to full extension, the splines are supposed to catch in the slightly indented lip of the handle shaft. It seems logical to me the splines wear after a while and no longer "catch" the shaft and so the handle just pulls off. I suspect they probably bend out slightly too. The rep. said he is going to discuss this issue with the designers. Really, any plastic on plastic parts which are subject to scraping in this manner seems bound to fail. I had a Minn Kota in the '90's which never failed like this tho I don't know if it's limited to the Endura line. It's a cheap part and they are sending me one. I'll get it replaced next week so hopefully that will be the end of it.

Couple more issues that came up in my discussion with the rep:

-Don't put lube around the propeller shaft and inspect it regularly for fishing line or other debris wrapped around it. #1 motor failure caused by fishing line compromising the shaft seal and water getting inside motor housing.

-Don't grease the out handle shaft. I won't, that's when mine started pulling off.

-Don't run the motor at full speed for long periods of time. Every ten minutes or so drop down to a lower speed or let the engine cool. It will shorten the life of the motor. He said this pertains more to the Endura line but not the Traxis because it has the Digital Maximiser feature. Huh? This is illogical to me. The Maximiser feature only adds infinite speed settings. If you cruise at full power, what's the difference between that and the Endura at full power? Sounds like Minn Kota needs to work on their motor heat management development.

 

[Starkonian]

1. I can hear a leaking sound on all four of my Boston valves, they go away after closing the cap, but the #3 valve is quite loud. I never experienced that with the Seahawk. Should I be concerned about slow leaking?

Clean the valves thoroughly and coat them with a thin coat of vaseline.

2. The floor slats look sharp at some points. Could they cause damage to the boat?

Most people don't use them or trim them down. You need to read through the thread for floor build ideas.

3. The slatted floor is heavy! I swear it weighs as much as the boat itself. I know this has been asked before, but would you keep the original underneath, or just put in a thicker plywood?

Read up on floor builds...

4. Has anyone bothered getting better, longer ores? I know a lot of people use the trolling motor, but sometimes it's nice to go for a paddle. Also, I noticed the plastic ore locks feel cheap. I wonder how likely they would break.

Look for my oar mod a ways back. It adds 8" to their length and strengthens them 5 fold. There are high end after market oars available if you want to spend the coin. The stock paddles are lacking in strength and length indeed. I bought two sets of replacement oar locks from Intex I keep in my equipment box on board. Around $2.50 each. Cheap insurance.

cccc

 

[Starkonian]

My son continues to school me on the bass this season. He hooked this one up on his ultra light for a ten minute fight. He quickly reminds me mine was OK, but smaller than his...

 

[mrdrh99]

Nice...I think I saw this on Facebook

 

[IN Mariner4]

Nice fish!!! Hoping to hook a few tomorrow. Taking the wife out for a quick run on the river then we will do some fishing.

 

[Starkonian]

Thanks, yep, posted it on the m-4 FB page too. Fish-on!

 

[ScottishScript]

I think I have some finality to the Minn Kota issue. They had someone call me who finally has a clue how the motor works. Referring to the parts diagram, part # 60 are the "magic fingers" they refer to in the manual guide which comes with the motor. It's called the Front Bearing. It sits at the front of the casing, the two casing halves closing over it. The outer handle is inserted through it and it is splined on the rear. When the handle is pulled to full extension, the splines are supposed to catch in the slightly indented lip of the handle shaft. It seems logical to me the splines wear after a while and no longer "catch" the shaft and so the handle just pulls off. I suspect they probably bend out slightly too. The rep. said he is going to discuss this issue with the designers. Really, any plastic on plastic parts which are subject to scraping in this manner seems bound to fail. I had a Minn Kota in the '90's which never failed like this tho I don't know if it's limited to the Endura line. It's a cheap part and they are sending me one. I'll get it replaced next week so hopefully that will be the end of it.

Couple more issues that came up in my discussion with the rep:

-Don't put lube around the propeller shaft and inspect it regularly for fishing line or other debris wrapped around it. #1 motor failure caused by fishing line compromising the shaft seal and water getting inside motor housing.

-Don't grease the out handle shaft. I won't, that's when mine started pulling off.

-Don't run the motor at full speed for long periods of time. Every ten minutes or so drop down to a lower speed or let the engine cool. It will shorten the life of the motor. He said this pertains more to the Endura line but not the Traxis because it has the Digital Maximiser feature. Huh? This is illogical to me. The Maximiser feature only adds infinite speed settings. If you cruise at full power, what's the difference between that and the Endura at full power? Sounds like Minn Kota needs to work on their motor heat management development.

Hi Stark,

Good to hear your enduring Endura saga may be at a satisfactory end. I myself was unable to carry out an attempted repair on the handle shaft as I do not have the required sized of bearing, yet.

As regards the other points related from the rep, I myself remove the prop regularly to check the drive pin due to previous experience. I once noticed the reverse mode had lost most of its power while forward was fine. Cause was a drive pin that had a third of its length. Quite often when checking the drive pin I will find weed jammed in there so it's definitely a good idea to take it off now and again.

As regards the Digital Maximiser, it does more than just offer infinite speed settings. It's supposed to extend battery life by turning the engine on and off very quickly, so quickly you don't even notice. I guess this constant on off goes some way to preventing the motor overheating.

 

[JC2133]

My son continues to school me on the bass this season. He hooked this one up on his ultra light for a ten minute fight. He quickly reminds me mine was OK, but smaller than his...

Awesome catch!

 

[Starkonian]

Awesome catch!

Nothing better than a fish'n buddy, thx!'

 

[Rainbow123]

Yep... Pretty much 1/2 of the weight.... Composite is heavy!

Got boat yesterday. Surprised how sharp those OEM floor boards are! If I make a plywood floor, I don't think any pipe insulation is necessary. Sanded plywood edges would be smoother than the factory floor as far as I can see.
And now my wife wants to me to make a dolly...going to be busy..​

 

[300winmag]

Since I use this raft for rivers as well as lakes I have broken 3 oar connectors and I am getting annoyed... Since I need to use the rotational oar locks I don't see many options that would allow for a paddle on one end and a handle on the other using some sort of quick connect.... might be time to make my own, what is everyone else using for the rivers?

 

[Brusac]

Since I use this raft for rivers as well as lakes I have broken 3 oar connectors and I am getting annoyed... Since I need to use the rotational oar locks I don't see many options that would allow for a paddle on one end and a handle on the other using some sort of quick connect.... might be time to make my own, what is everyone else using for the rivers?

I saw somewhere (might have been in this thread or perhaps a youtube video, can't say I remember where) that someone bought some PVC couplers at a hardware store and made a better oar connector that looked very similar to the OEM connectors and operated the same way. For myself I use the oars to get navigate to/from the launch and pretty much use my trolling motor for everything else.

 

[300winmag]

Ahhhh yes, I seen that on "instructables", however the guy randomly gets these black rubber washers from nowhere which i guess hold the oars together when clamped down because there is no way if you follow the instructions they will stay together. All it is is a 6" pipe with a couple end caps.. I don't know how that is supposed to hold these 2 together... If you figure it out please let me know because by the looks of that page it won't work.... I'm thinking of making a sleeve of sorts from aluminum

 

[cmilot6329]

Just got my Mariner 4 this week and am planning to put a 2 piece hard floor down using 1/2" plywood. I'll be sanding it and rounding the edges, painting and carpeting. I would like to have lowes or home depot cut it for me so I can fit it in my car and then I will do the smaller cuts at home. I've read this entire thread and I'm seeing some different width sizes that people are using. It seems like 34" inches might be too wide which causes pressure on the seams and they eventually develop small leaks. Can anyone confirm what a good width size is so it's not causing any undue pressure but still snug enough not to move around? Thanks!

 

[Starkonian]

I saw somewhere (might have been in this thread or perhaps a youtube video, can't say I remember where) that someone bought some PVC couplers at a hardware store and made a better oar connector that looked very similar to the OEM connectors and operated the same way. For myself I use the oars to get navigate to/from the launch and pretty much use my trolling motor for everything else.

I did a oar mod how-to earlier in this thread. Inserted birch dowels adding 8" length and used the hardware store pipe connectors. They are very rigid and strong now. The only caveat is they do not break down into pieces now. I also carry a couple spare oar locks.

 

[coldclearwater]

1. I can hear a leaking sound on all four of my Boston valves, they go away after closing the cap, but the #3 valve is quite loud. I never experienced that with the Seahawk. Should I be concerned about slow leaking?

Clean the valves thoroughly and coat them with a thin coat of vaseline.

2. The floor slats look sharp at some points. Could they cause damage to the boat?

Most people don't use them or trim them down. You need to read through the thread for floor build ideas.

3. The slatted floor is heavy! I swear it weighs as much as the boat itself. I know this has been asked before, but would you keep the original underneath, or just put in a thicker plywood?

Read up on floor builds...

4. Has anyone bothered getting better, longer ores? I know a lot of people use the trolling motor, but sometimes it's nice to go for a paddle. Also, I noticed the plastic ore locks feel cheap. I wonder how likely they would break.

Look for my oar mod a ways back. It adds 8" to their length and strengthens them 5 fold. There are high end after market oars available if you want to spend the coin. The stock paddles are lacking in strength and length indeed. I bought two sets of replacement oar locks from Intex I keep in my equipment box on board. Around $2.50 each. Cheap insurance.

Awesome, thanks bud. The problem is the thread is quite long and after skimming through, albeit, very lightly, I couldn't find much. Could you point us in the right direction? Love the idea about picking up a few extra oarlocks too. Thanks!

I'm really not a fan of the existing oars at all, so I'm considering just buying some better ones.

Edit to add: why the hell was it asking me for a valid URL? Wouldn't let me post without it. Weird.

 

[jbcurt00]

Coldwater, you must have accidentally hit the add link icon. For some reason, occasionally, the forum software wont allow you to not add a link when you hit the add a link icon.